Just Us Girls

Prologue

August 4th, 2023

A sudden, heavy pounding at the front door caught me mid key-stroke. My miniature schnauzer, Jerry, shot up from his bed under the humming air conditioner, taking off to investigate. Setting a mug of coffee onto my desk, I followed. The house was quiet. My daughters were still sleeping, taking full advantage of the late mornings that summer break provided.

Humid August air rushed in as I opened the door. Outside a man walked back toward the street. Secured with a rubberband, a folded cluster of papers hung from the knob.

I already knew what it was, but contemplated the legitimacy of service—legal documents just left, no signature required. 

I pulled at the rubberband anyway. It was already done—there was no stopping it. With the delivery in my hands, I closed the door softly and settled on the couch. 

My trembling fingers smoothed the creases of the papers in my lap. Words across the top of the page screamed at me. 

Ex Parte Motion for Full Custody

For years I had known the moment would come. I received an unexpected warning the day before which softened the blow, but didn’t fully prepare me for what I held in my hands.

Within the motion were two options: With Visitation / Without Visitation.

A check mark boldly filled the box: Without Visitation.

My ex-husband walked into the courthouse not just to take full custody—but to completely erase me from our children’s lives.

It had been a decade since our divorce, which left me with nothing but my children—they were all I needed. For ten years, I raised them alone—helped with homework, cheered from the sidelines of soccer fields and basketball courts, and sat through school concerts and parent-teacher conferences. And after it all, at their ages of ten and twelve, the inevitable finally came—a motion that threatened everything we’d built.

Through the years, we repeated our motto.

“Just us girls.”

And there I sat, papers in my hands. It was where ten years had brought us.

— Sophie Marino